The 2019 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index shows that cybercriminals are moving away from ransomware and malware in general because a growing awareness of these attacks among organizations, in combination with increased threat mitigation efforts, have made malware-based attacks less lucrative. Cryptojacking attacks, in which threat actors hijack the processing resources of a targeted system to mine cryptocurrencies, were almost two times more common in 2018 than ransomware attacks.
Threat actors are embracing fileless, or living-off-the-land attack techniques involving the abuse of administrative tools like PowerShell that are already on targeted systems. 57% of cyberattacks last year involved living-off-the-land techniques. Another common attack technique is targeted phishing, which was used in 29% of all attacks.
Read more: Increasing security measures are driving cybercriminals to alter their techniques
